Tonight, I had booked with TAC for Haydn's Creation at St. Pancras Church, Euston. And then I saw that Bucket List London (BLL) had booked something for earlier in the day! specifically, a trip to Greenwich Royal Observatory and/or the Ranger's House. Ah well now, I hadn't been out with this group since January! Ironically, that's where I first met Laurence, on so many of whose walks I've subsequently been - and who knows when I'll see him again?! since he seems only to run walks on weekdays, now. I seem to be swapping one for the other.. So anyway, I ended up going to all of the above. One of those busy days. And he wanted to start early, blast!
Overslept, of course - and with most of my clothes still in boxes, had some fun trying to find something to wear today! Managed it, decently, and made the Tube I meant to get - this far out, bus wasn't an option. Google Maps had me catching a train from London Bridge that would get me there in time. Google Maps didn't really factor in how big the station is, and how I had to schlep all the way over from the Underground section to the mainline trains, then to the platform - which wasn't the one they had thought; that one was closed. Anyway, I did make it to the bottom of the escalator - where I heard the whistle, and the train leaving. And so I ended up waiting for the next.
And was slightly late. Anyway, we were to meet at the observatory, so I headed that way - and up a steep hill, which did at least have a spectacular view:
At the top is the observatory, which has a fascinating range of displays for those interested in science. The British Navy was once unparalleled in many areas, such as navigation and measuring position and time, and you'll find displays on all of those here, and more: for instance, the gold standard, you might say, of measurement:
Yeah, and you can't really go away without taking a photo astride the prime meridian, one foot in each hemisphere!
Met up with the group organiser inside the house, which is where the various royal astronomers lived throughout the years. Now, as he pointed out later, the exhibition improves as you go on - initially, all you have are some pretty empty, if attractive, rooms, with information about the different families. And then you get some nice things that were associated with them:
I think it really picks up when it starts to get scientific. There's so much about the development of a decent timepiece, for instance - after all, when this started to be an issue, all clocks were pendulum-based: and there's a display specifically to show you how a pendulum is affected by the sway of the ship. So they had lots of attempts at ship-proof pendulums - until some bright spark invented the watch mechanism we know and love today! Much more resilient:
The red ball on the roof was dropped at 1pm every day, to allow ships' crews to calibrate their clocks:
And at the end of our visit, and the end of a long display of telescopes, we saw a biggie:
..which is in a room that also includes a scientific information display. All in all, the observatory is a fascinating description of the development of a range of scientific disciplines through the years. I loved it. It wasn't until the end, however, that we discovered we could have gone to a planetarium too! To be booked separately, though. Some other time, perhaps.
And so, on to the Ranger's House - which was quite hard to find! Not exactly well-signposted.
This has played the role of family home to several royals over the years - today, it houses a spectacular collection of art, crockery, and finely worked jewellery and assorted objets d'art. We saw some amazing things, with a terrific level of detail - it's a terrible shame that photography is not allowed inside. The staff, as ever with English Heritage, is enthusiastic and ever ready to help - and the lady in the gift shop as we were leaving gave us a sample of strawberry wine to try. Can't say I was so keen on it, myself.
And so we parted - it was great to see the organiser again, after so long - and what a shame he didn't have more takers for such an interesting trip! Me, I'd never even heard of the Ranger's House, nor had I thought the observatory would be so engrossing. Both highly recommended. Anyway, I was hungry, and had thought of heading to Greenwich for food - however, I turned out to be closer to Blackheath, and by sheer reason of proximity, I ended up in the Princess of Wales pub there!
A sign asks you to wait to be seated - nonsense, there's nobody to ask unless you go to the bar, and the place wasn't crowded anyway. A few tables had reservation signs - I just picked one that hadn't. It's a huge place. Mind you, I might have done better to pick one without armchairs - it was a little hard to lever myself up to the table to eat! but I managed. Calamari, followed by garlic chicken with truffle potatoes dauphinoise. And a glass of the Spanish white. They have QR codes, but as it wasn't busy, I decided to order at the bar.
I thought it was taking a little while for the food to arrive - sure enough, the starter and main came together, swiftly followed by the lady who'd taken the order, and wanted to apologise because, as she said, when she puts it all in together, it all comes out together! Never mind, I just ate them both together. And - they. were. delicious! Everything. I was oohing and ahing and mmming the whole way through. When something was finished, there was rapidly someone to clear it away. When I needed something, someone was never far away to order it from - I never had to go back to the bar. When I put in another order - for more wine, or a dessert (their brownie with honeycomb ice cream is gorgeous too!), it came swiftly, and the server's free hand always had a card machine, so I could pay straight away. She warned me there might be a delay on the dessert - there wasn't. I have never had better service, and it's an age since I had service so good - I cannot recommend this place highly enough. What a find! Booking essential for weekend evenings though - it was really filling up by the time I left.
And so home for a bit before the concert, and aired my stifling room. Rain had been promised for tonight, but it had been spitting all day - it started pouring properly while I headed to the church, which is walking distance from where I live. Anyway, it isn't too far - at the desk, the lady explained that we could buy programmes for £1, or have a free one with a drink. Hmm..
Seating was free, so I went up the side and sat fairly near the front.
Funnily enough, the theme from The Omen was running through my head. I'd say that had a lot to do with the excellent horror film soundtrack playlist compiled by Creepypasta, which I was listening to at work yesterday. Completely banished from my mind, however, once tonight's music started. We were listening to the British Sinfonietta, accompanied by the Covent Garden Chorus - and it was spectacular. Brahms' Nänie was followed by the main piece, Haydn's Creation, which was split over two halves. The choir, in particular, took up so much of the front of the church that the sound dominated the space - quite overwhelming. It was also great to follow the lyrics in the programme, along with the translation for the first piece. A lovely end to the day!
Just a pity that, with the church on a crossroads, I got completely turned around when I came out! Never mind, I made it home eventually.
Tomorrow, back with London Guided Walks (LGW) - but, armed with the information that they now advertise through TAC, I've booked through them instead! (Sold out with them now.) This is the Secrets of St. James Walk, and given how I booked, I must remember to bring £3 cash on the day. I have to admit, the standard of these walks is excellent. Better get to bed.. oh, and it's supposed to rain again, bah humbug.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Jitney, at The Old Vic. I didn't fancy the cheapest seats - but gee, SFF had seats in all but the most expensive price bands, for very little more! So I now find myself in the central Stalls for this..
On Tuesday, I'm at the Royal Court for That Is Not Who I Am, a play about identity theft, from a mysterious writer about whom we have few details, except that he has worked most of his life in the security industry. Ooh..
On Wednesday, back with TAC for The Lark Ascending and Piano Quintet, a classical concert at St. Giles' Cripplegate, a church I've often passed but never been in! Part of the City Churches Music Festival.
On Thursday, back at the same festival - with CT, this time, for a concert of English Song at the lovely church of St. Bartholomew the Great. It's been too long.. Then back to Ireland for the weekend again.
On the 27th, booked with TAC to hear an interview with Chris Patten, the last UK governer of Hong Kong before it was handed back to China. Happening at Conway Hall.
On the 28th, back again with Free Stuff and Free Events, for their Free Tuesday Sing-a-Long for Health and Pleasure. Online, and one where you're muted, so you don't even have anyone hear you sing! Great for the shy.
On the 29th, I'm finally succumbing to Anything Goes, at the Barbican. Now, I got my ticket for this from Time Out, which is the first place I saw the offer - but it turns out that any number of outlets have £25 tickets! If they're all for the same seats as Time Out, then I'd have to feel sorry for people that bought tickets for £38, which is cheaper than the original price of £45 for the seats on offer! Assuming anyone did. Anyway, with no bad seats here, you'd have to be crazy to pay more.
On the 30th, back with BLL - who obligingly is doing something midweek! I'll have to skip off work early - this is for vespers in Westminster Cathedral, and starts at 4.30. He is actually in Westminster all day, attending Ministerial Question Time earlier - but not only do I have a job to go to, but jeez, I do believe this would just infuriate me! So that, I'm not attending..
On the 1st, back with Civilised London for dinner at Caravel. Terrific reviews..
That weekend, I'm back with the man with the famous name - Dr. Stephen King (not the writer) is guiding a couple of walks for LGW (courtesy of Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts). Sadly, not as yet advertised on TAC, so I booked them through the official site (discount of £3 with the code MEETUP3, as usual). Both topics / areas I've covered many times before, but gee, he's such a great guide! On the 2nd, it's his Southwark Walk.
On the 3rd, it's his Royal Coronation Walk. I just bet he comes up with something I didn't already know..
On the 4th, I'm headed to A Doll's House Part 2, at Donmar Warehouse - sequel to the famous original, where the wife leaves an unhappy marriage; this sequel examines what happens when she returns.
On the 5th - well, I've finally seen UITCS' ad for Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch, at the Underbelly Festival! A parody musical, right up my street - I hate how Meetup so often doesn't show me the events I really would enjoy! Just as well I saw this in time, before I booked anything else.
And on the 6th, back with CT for a concert by the Royal College of Music Brass Ensemble, at the college on Shelton Street.
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